


i don't want to screw this up

by dorypop



Series: atla tumblr prompts [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Fire Lord Zuko, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25167016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dorypop/pseuds/dorypop
Summary: 50 Dialogue tumblr prompts: "I don't want to screw this up" (Zuko and Katara)
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: atla tumblr prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1823179
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	i don't want to screw this up

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by [@Ailec_12](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ailec_12/pseuds/Ailec_12)!  
> ([original post](https://hklnvgl.tumblr.com/post/623085490482135040/i-loved-your-zutara-last-time-so-49-katara-and))

“I don’t want to screw this up,” he confessed, taking a sip from his scalding-hot cup of tea, in case it’d magically acquired healing properties in the past three seconds and it’d help him calm his nerves.

Katara managed to transform her snort into a polite cough, but not before he noticed. He glared at her, which of course Katara ignored.

She picked a fire gummy—Zuko was glad his Head of Protocol wasn’t there to see her efforts gone to waste—and her face scrunched when she swallowed.

“As long as you don’t make my dad eat those, it’ll be perfectly fine,” Katara said, chasing the candy down with some tea. “Why is everything so _very_ spicy here, again?”

Zuko sighed. It _wouldn’t_ be fine. Chief Hakoda was a nice enough guy, and he had Katara literally by his side, but he wasn’t the only one attending the meeting—he’d bring other Water Tribe people, which was terrifying by itself, _and_ there was also the Fire Nation nobility to consider. At least when he had meetings with admirals and generals he knew when he made a mistake—they _told_ him when his suggestions were physically impossible or took too much of the assigned budget. And they all worked to adjust them so that when everybody left the meeting room, with full bladders and falling topknots, some advances had been made.

On the other hand, meeting with nobles—for once, no matter how many hours they were forced to sit in perfect form in a suffocating room, they were the kind of people who would never allow others to see one single hair outside of their topknots. Zuko couldn’t relate, and for all he tried—he suspected his Head of Protocol was slightly upset with him for this very reason—he couldn’t guess when he’d said or done something that didn’t appease the nobles. Because they didn’t say! They nodded and smiled and gracefully fanned themselves, and then they went outside and gossiped and criticized and Zuko only found out what they were _really_ thinking when he heard the kitchen helpers whisper about it when he came for a quick snack in the early morning.

If the Water Tribe nobles—not that they called themselves that, but Zuko’d gathered they served the same function—were similar to Fire Nation ones, this was going to be an _enormous_ disaster.

He sipped more tea.

“Zuko, you’ll be _fine_ ,” Katara repeated, more gently than before. “It can’t be the worst situation you’ve faced so far—”

“The Fire Nation’s future is in my hands, Katara,” he said, with that matter-of-fact tone he often heard from the Fire Sages. It sounded more ominous when they said it, though. Must be their hats.

“Still. You’ve fought _me_ , Zuko. And you were fine. This is nothing.”

Zuko was very glad Katara was sitting where she was. He filled both their cups with more tea. She was probably right—after all, he was the Fire Lord. He just had to fool these people for a couple hours, and then he’d be able to take a bath and change into more comfortable clothes.

He took a deep breath. He sipped more tea.

“Let them in.”


End file.
